PHL current account surplus widens in Q3

The Philippine current account surplus improved by 14.7 percent in the third quarter on the back of higher remittances and narrower trade deficit, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) said Friday. 

 

At a press briefing, Rosabel Guerrero, Bangko Sentral Economic Statistics director, said the current account recorded a $3.037 billion surplus in July to September from $2.647 billion in the same period last year.

 

“The current account surplus was due to the narrowing of the trade-in-goods deficit and the continued increase in in net receipts in secondary income, which more than offset the decrease in net receipts in trade-in-services and primary income," she said. 

 

The trade-in-goods posted a lower deficit of $4.4 billion in the third quarter from $5.2 billion last year, as the growth in exports of goods outpaced that of imports.

 

The secondary income account largely grew due to the rise in personal transfers, which include overseas Filipino remittances.

 

The latest figure placed the January to September surplus at $6.805 billion, 3 percent lower from the $7.017 billion last year.

 

Guerrero noted the lower current account for the nine-month period was due mainly to the lower trade-in-services surplus.

 

Trade-in-goods deficit slightly widened to $13 billion from $12.8 billion as increments in imports was higher than that in exports for the period.

 

Meanwhile, overseas Filipino remittances continued to lift the secondary income by 8.4 percent to $16.2 billion.

 

A component of the balance of payments position, which measures Philippine transactions with the rest of the world, the current account is expected to reach $6.6 billion by year-end from an earlier projection of $6-billion current account surplus. —JST, GMA News